HMS Unicorn was an aircraft repair ship and light aircraft carrier built for the Royal Navy in the late 1930s. She was completed during World War II and provided air cover over the amphibious landing at Salerno, Italy, in September 1943. The ship was transferred to the Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean at the end of the year. Unicorn supported the aircraft carriers of the fleet on their operations until the British Pacific Fleet (BPF) was formed in November 1944. She was transferred to Australia in early 1945 to support the BPF's operations during Operation Iceberg, the Allied invasion of Okinawa in May. To shorten the time required to replenish the BPF's carriers, the ship was based in the Admiralty Islands and in the Philippine Islands until the Japanese surrender in August. Unicorn was decommissioned and placed in reserve when she returned to the UK in January 1946.
The ship was recommissioned in 1949 to support the light carrier of the Far East Fleet, as the Eastern Fleet had been redesignated after the end of World War II. She was unloading aircraft and equipment in Singapore in June 1950 when the Korean War began. She spent most of the war ferrying aircraft, troops, stores and equipment in support of Commonwealth operations in Korea. Unicorn supported other carriers during operations in Korea, but she became the only aircraft carrier to conduct a shore bombardment with her guns during wartime when she attacked North Korean observers on the coast during the war.[2] The ship returned to the UK after the end of the war and was again placed in reserve. She was listed for disposal in 1958 and sold for scrap in 1959.
Design and description
The Abyssinia Crisis of 1934–35 demonstrated to the Admiralty that it needed a depot ship to support the aircraft carriers in active service, just like submarine and destroyer tenders supported those types. Such a ship would be able to perform a wider range of aircraft repair and maintenance tasks than aircraft carriers and on the full range of aircraft operated by the Royal Navy, including amphibians. Admiral Reginald Henderson, Controller of the Navy was instrumental for gaining approval for the ship and ensuring that she had a complete flight deck that would allow her to land, service and launch aircraft on active operations.[3] She was the first ship built in any navy that could "carry out the full range of aircraft maintenance and repair work in addition to the ability to operate aircraft from the flight deck".[4] In practice, Unicorn proved the value of the concept and two similar support ships, Perseus and Pioneer were converted into aircraft maintenance ships by modifying light aircraft carriers still under construction.[5]
Unicorn had an overall length of 640 feet (195.1m), a beam of 90feet 3inches (27.5m), and a draught of 23 feet (7.0m) at deep load. She was somewhat overweight as completed and displaced 16,510 long tons (16,770t) at standard load rather than her designed 14,750 long tons (14,990t).[6] Each of the ship's two sets of Parsons geared steam turbines drove one 15-foot (4.6m) propeller.[7] Steam was supplied by six Admiralty three-drumwater-tube boilers operating at a pressure of 400psi (2,758kPa; 28kgf/cm2). The turbines were designed for a total of 40,000 shaft horsepower (30,000kW) and gave Unicorn a speed of 24 knots (44km/h; 28mph).[6] The ship carried 3,000 long tons (3,000t) of fuel oil which gave her a range of 7,000 nautical miles (13,000km; 8,100mi) at 13.5 knots (25.0km/h; 15.5mph).[7]
In order to land aircraft aboard, Unicorn was designed with a full-length, 600-foot (180m)-long flight deck with arresting gear. She was also fitted with a catapult capable of launching a 14,000-pound (6,400kg) aircraft to a speed of 66 knots (122km/h; 76mph).[8] The ship had two hangars, each 16feet 6inches (5.03m) high. The upper hangar was 324ft by 65ft, and the lower 360ft by 62ft. Aircraft were transported between the hangars and the flight deck by two aircraft lifts (elevators); the forward lift measured 33 by 45 feet (10.1m ×13.7m) and the rear one 24 by 46 feet (7.3m ×14.0m). Unicorn could carry about 36 operational aircraft. Bulk petrol storage consisted of 36,500 imperial gallons (166,000L; 43,800USgal).[9] During wartime, the ship's crew totaled 1200.[10] The ship carried a self-propelled lighter under the rear of the flight deck to allow unflyable aircraft to be transferred between ships or to shore facilities. This lighter was lowered flush with the upper hangar deck so that an aircraft could be rolled onto it or an aircraft could be lifted onto it once the lighter was in the water.[11]
Unicorn was armed with four twin mounts for the 45-calibre QF 4-inch Mk XVIdual purpose gun.[6] This mounting could elevate from −10 to +80°. The Mk XVI gun fired about 12 35-pound (16kg)high-explosive shells per minute at a muzzle velocity of 2,660ft/s (810m/s). Against surface targets it had a range of 19,850 yards (18,150m) and a maximum ceiling of 39,000ft (12,000m), but an effective anti-aircraft range of much less.[12] She was also equipped with four quadruple mounts for the 40-millimetre (1.6in)QF 2-pounder Mk VIII gun ("pom-pom").[10] These gun mounts could depress to −10° and elevate to a maximum of +80°. The Mk VIII 2-pounder gun fired a 40-millimetre (1.6in)0.91-pound (0.41kg) shell at a muzzle velocity of 1,920ft/s (590m/s) to a distance of 3,800 yards (3,500m). The gun's rate of fire was approximately 96–98 rounds per minute.[13] Close-range air defence was provided by twelve 20 mm Oerlikonautocannon, in two twin mounts and eight single ones.[6] The Oerlikon fired a 0.272-pound (0.123kg) shell at a muzzle velocity of 2,750ft/s (840m/s). It had a rate of fire of 465–480 rounds per minute and a maximum range of 4,800 yards (4,400m).[14]
The ship was equipped with two HACS (High Angle Control System) directors on her island and each "pom-pom" mount had its own director as well.[6]Unicorn was the first ship to mount a Type 281Bearly-warning radar,[15] and each HACS director was fitted with a Type 285 gunnery radar.[6]
Construction and service
Unicorn was ordered on 14 April 1939, and laid down at Harland and Wolff in Belfast, Northern Ireland on 29 June. Her construction was delayed several times in favour of higher priority projects and she was not launched until 20 November 1941. The ship was completed on 12 March 1943.[6] In order to accelerate the ship's completion, the Admiralty decided in 1942 that she would not be equipped with her full suite of maintenance and repair equipment.[16] Excluding her armament, Unicorn cost £2,531,000.[7][Note 1]
Unicorn was assigned to Force V, a flotilla of British carriers, commanded by Admiral Philip Vian, intended to provide air cover to Operation Avalanche, the Allied landings at Salerno. In preparation for this mission, the ship disembarked all of her Swordfish, except for a small detachment of three from 818 Squadron for self-defence, and the Sea Hurricanes of 800 Squadron. They were replaced by Seafires of 809 and 897 Squadrons. Each of the Seafire squadrons had 10 aircraft, for a total of 33.[21]Unicorn joined the escort carriers of Force V in August at Gibraltar before they moved forward to the Central Mediterranean for intensive training prior to the commencement of the amphibious landing on 9 September.[22]
The ship's Seafires flew 75 sorties on the first day of operations and 60 on 10 September, but the Seafire was not well suited to carrier landings in low wind conditions and many were damaged in landing accidents. 44 sorties were flown on 11 September and only 18 on 12 September, even though Unicorn's mechanics had managed to repair ten Seafires over the previous night. The fighter shortage grew so acute during the operation that fighters from the carriers Illustrious and Formidable, intended to provide distant cover against an attempt by the Italian fleet to interfere with the invasion, staged forward to Unicorn in order to provide air cover over the landings.[23] By 12 September, the situation had improved so that 887 Squadron was able to fly off six Seafires to a temporary airfield ashore.[21]
The ship returned to the UK on 20 September with a full load of damaged Seafires, in addition to her own aircraft, that were off-loaded at Glasgow to be repaired. Afterwards, she was refitted by her builders and reconfigured for her designed role as an aircraft repair ship.[24]
At the end of December 1943, Unicorn joined Illustrious, the battlecruiserRenown and the battleships Queen Elizabeth and Valiant, the other reinforcements for the Eastern Fleet.[25] Only four Swordfish from 818 Squadron were carried aboard at this time.[26] The ship delivered a consignment of aircraft to Royal Navy Air Station Cochin, India, on 27 January 1944 before arriving at Trincomalee, Ceylon on 2 February. In addition to her repair duties, the ship was often used for deck-landing practice. She was given a brief refit in Bombay during May.[25] On 23 August, 818 Squadron was transferred to Atheling and later disbanded. On 7 November, 817 Squadron flew aboard to provide anti-submarine protection with its Fairey Barracudas[27] as Unicorn was ordered to Durban, South Africa. There she was to be modified with separate workshops and additional equipment to accommodate American engines which used different screw threads and electrical fittings.[28]
That same month, Unicorn was transferred to the newly formed BPF. She left Durban on 1 January 1945 and arrived at Colombo, Ceylon where she conducted deck-landing practice for pilots new to the BPF. The ship loaded 82 aircraft and 120 engines later in the month for transport to Australia, emptying the available stocks of the Eastern Fleet, and departed for Sydney on 29 January. Unicorn arrived on 12 February and disembarked her stored aircraft. She sailed for Manus Island, in the Admiralty Islands, on 28 February to support the BPF's training before the opening stages of Operation Iceberg. The ship arrived at San Pedro Bay, Philippines on 27 March which was to serve as the BPF's intermediate replenishment base while it supported Operation Iceberg.[29]
The BPF was tasked to attack Japanese airfields in the Sakishima Islands and Formosa before and during the early stages of the invasion of Okinawa. Unicorn was primarily engaged in preparing aircraft for issue to the operational squadrons aboard the fleet carriers during this time,[30] rather than repair them, but she did repair, modify or service 105 aircraft in March–May 1945. The ship sailed for Australia on 22 May and arrived in Sydney on 1 June. She sailed for Brisbane on 6 June to have her bottom cleaned at the Cairncross Dockyard and to load more replacement aircraft. Unicorn arrived at Manus on 22 July to prepare for operations off Japan. She was still there when Japan surrendered on 15 August. The ship began to ferry aircraft, equipment and men back to Australia after the surrender, a task which ended on 6 November, when she arrived at Sydney. Unicorn departed for home in December 1945 and arrived in Plymouth in January 1946. She was decommissioned and placed in reserve.[31]
Post-war
HMS Unicorn with U.S. Navy ships at Sasebo, Japan, 1950
In 1949, Unicorn was reactivated for service in the Far East, in support of the carrier Triumph. She sailed from HMNB Devonport on 22 September with a cargo of Seafires and Fireflies. When the Korean War broke out in June 1950, the ship was disembarking aircraft, equipment and her maintenance personnel at RAF Sembawang, Singapore in preparation to return home and then to reserve. The Admiralty ordered her to be used as a replenishment carrier to ferry replacement aircraft and supplies to the Royal Navy and Commonwealth aircraft carriers operating in Korean waters. Unicorn left Singapore on 11 July and arrived at Sasebo, Japan, on 20 July and transferred seven Seafires and five Fireflies to Triumph. In August, the ship ferried the 1st Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment and the Headquarters of the 27th Brigade from Hong Kong to Pusan, arriving on 29 August. She delivered supplies to Sasebo before returning to Singapore to begin a refit.[32]
Unicorn resumed her duties in December, carrying about 400 troops in addition to the usual aircraft, stores and equipment. She was used by pilots for deck-landing practice en route. In March, she ferried the Gloster Meteor jet fighters of No. 77 Squadron RAAF to Iwakuni, Japan. The ship remained there for the next three months so she could be used as an accommodation ship. Afterwards, Unicorn resumed her role as a ferry carrier. Whilst transiting the Shimonoseki Strait on 2 October, she destroyed the overhead power cables stretching between Honshu and Kyushu as they were sagging lower than normal due to a heavy snowfall. On 21 November, Unicorn and the carrier Warrior exchanged crews at Singapore and the ship began a refit shortly afterwards. After her refit was completed on 20 January 1952, she returned to her ferry duties.[33] In April, she was "adopted" by the Middlesex Regiment (possibly one of only three ships to be honoured by an Army regiment).[34] During operations by Ocean in July, the ship acted as a spare flight deck to allow for damaged aircraft to land without disrupting the strike operations. She arrived back at Singapore on 27 July to load more replacement aircraft, including Meteors, and sailed on 9 August for Japan. During September, Unicorn borrowed four of Ocean's Hawker Sea Fury fighters to fly combat air patrols over the fleet whilst the latter ship conducted strike operations. She was docked for maintenance in October, and embarked the First Sea Lord, Admiral Rhoderick McGrigor and the Commander-in-Chief, Far East Station for a tour of Commonwealth forces in Japan. At one point, Unicorn became the only aircraft carrier in history so far to conduct a shore bombardment during wartime when she engaged North Korean coastwatchers at Chopekki Point.[35]
The ship returned to Singapore for another refit on 15 December and did not leave Singapore until 17 July 1953. On 26 July, en route for Japan, Unicorn received a distress call from SSInchkilda south of the Wuqiu region in the Taiwan Strait, saying that she was under attack by pirates - 3 gunboats of the ROCAnti-Communist National Salvation Army (ACNSA).[36][37] The carrier closed on the freighter's position at high speed and the pirates abandoned their prize when Unicorn circled the freighter with all guns bearing at less than 3,000 yards (2,700m). The Korean Armistice Agreement came into effect the following day, but the ship accompanied Ocean on two patrols on 30 July and 25–29 August to monitor North Korean compliance with the terms of the armistice. She sailed for home on 15 October and arrived at Devonport on 17 November, where she returned to reserve.[38]
Disposal
In 1951, Unicorn was considered for modernisation to make her capable of operating modern, heavier jet aircraft. This would have required fitting of a steam catapult, reinforcing her flight deck to handle heavier aircraft and moving and enlarging her forward lift to make room for the new catapult and larger aircraft. A new crane would also have been necessary to handle the heavier aircraft. The Director of Naval Construction proposed to combine both of her hangars into a single one to eliminate problems with hangar height, but this was rejected because of the excessive cost. This reconstruction would have begun in July 1954, but the entire scheme was cancelled in November 1952 because providing existing carriers with angled flight decks was much more important.[39]
Unicorn was redesignated as a Ferry Carrier in June 1953.[40] The ship was reduced to extended reserve in March 1957 and placed on the disposal list in 1958. Unicorn was sold for scrap in June 1959 and arrived at Dalmuir on 15 June to begin the process. Her hull was broken up at Troon in 1960.[41]
↑ The name Unicorn already in use by the 1824-built wooden frigate Unicorn, which was being used as a drill ship in Dundee, Scotland. The frigate's name was changed to Unicorn II in February 1939, then to HMS Cressy on 20 November 1941. The frigate regained her original name on 14 July 1959 after the carrier was scrapped.[17]
HMS Warrior was a Colossus-class light aircraft carrier which was ordered in 1942 by the British Royal Navy during World War II. Construction was finished in 1945 and upon completion, the aircraft carrier was loaned to the Royal Canadian Navy from 1946 to 1948 as HMCS Warrior. Warrior was returned to the Royal Navy in 1948 and entered service with the British. While in service with the Royal Navy, Warrior was modernised twice, including the installation of an angled flight deck in 1956. In 1948–1949, the ship was used in aircraft landing experiments and fitted with a rubber flight deck and in 1957, was used as the headquarters ship during nuclear testing at Christmas Island. In 1958, the vessel was sold to the Argentine Navy and entered Argentine service in 1959 as ARA Independencia. The aircraft carrier remained in service until 1970 when Independencia was placed in reserve. The following year, the ship was sold for scrap.
HMS Triumph was a Royal Navy Colossus-class light fleet aircraft carrier. She served in the Korean War and later, after reconstruction, as a support ship.
HMS Victorious was the third Illustrious-class aircraft carrier after Illustrious and Formidable. Ordered under the 1936 Naval Programme, she was laid down at the Vickers-Armstrong shipyard at Newcastle upon Tyne in 1937 and launched two years later in 1939. Her commissioning was delayed until 1941 due to the greater need for escort vessels for service in the Battle of the Atlantic.
HMS Illustrious was the lead ship of her class of aircraft carriers built for the Royal Navy before World War II. Her first assignment after completion and working up was with the Mediterranean Fleet, in which her aircraft's most notable achievement was sinking one Italian battleship and badly damaging two others during the Battle of Taranto in late 1940. Two months later the carrier was crippled by German dive bombers and was repaired in the United States. After sustaining damage on the voyage home in late 1941 by a collision with her sister ship Formidable, Illustrious was sent to the Indian Ocean in early 1942 to support the invasion of Vichy French Madagascar. After returning home in early 1943, the ship was given a lengthy refit and briefly assigned to the Home Fleet. She was transferred to Force H for the Battle of Salerno in mid-1943 and then rejoined the Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean at the beginning of 1944. Her aircraft attacked several targets in the Japanese-occupied Dutch East Indies over the following year before Illustrious was transferred to the newly formed British Pacific Fleet (BPF). The carrier participated in the early stages of the Battle of Okinawa until mechanical defects arising from accumulated battle damage became so severe she was ordered home early for repairs in May 1945.
HMS Battler (D18) was an American-built escort carrier that served with the Royal Navy during the Second World War.
HMS Chaser (D32/R306/A727) was an American-built Attacker-class escort carrier that served with the Royal Navy during the Second World War.
HMS Formidable was an Illustrious-class aircraft carrier ordered for the Royal Navy before the Second World War. After being completed in late 1940, she was briefly assigned to the Home Fleet before being transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet as a replacement for her crippled sister ship Illustrious. Formidable's aircraft played a key role in the Battle of Cape Matapan in early 1941, and they subsequently provided cover for Allied ships and attacked Axis forces until their carrier was badly damaged by German dive bombers in May.
HMS Indefatigable was one of two Implacable-class aircraft carriers built for the Royal Navy (RN) during World War II. Completed in 1944, her aircraft made several attacks that year against the German battleship Tirpitz, inflicting only light damage; they also raided targets in Norway. The ship was transferred to the British Pacific Fleet (BPF) at the end of the year and attacked Japanese-controlled oil refineries in Sumatra in January 1945 before joining the American forces in March as they prepared to invade the island of Okinawa in Operation Iceberg. Indefatigable and the BPF joined the Americans in attacking the Japanese Home Islands in July and August. Following the end of hostilities she visited ports in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
The Implacable-class aircraft carrier consisted of two aircraft carriers built for the Royal Navy during World War II. Derived from the design of the Illustrious class, they were faster and carried more aircraft than the older ships. They were initially assigned to the Home Fleet when completed in 1944 and attacked targets in Norway as well as the German battleship Tirpitz. Subsequently, they were assigned to the British Pacific Fleet (BPF).
HMS Implacable was the name ship of her class of two aircraft carriers built for the Royal Navy during World War II. Upon completion in 1944, she was initially assigned to the Home Fleet and attacked targets in Norway for the rest of the year. She was subsequently assigned to the British Pacific Fleet (BPF) where she attacked the Japanese naval base at Truk and targets in the Japanese Home Islands in 1945. The ship was used to repatriate liberated Allied prisoners of war (PoWs) and soldiers after the Japanese surrender, for the rest of the year. Implacable returned home in 1946 and became the Home Fleet's deck-landing training carrier, a role that lasted until 1950. She briefly served as flagship of the Home Fleet in 1950. During this time she participated in many exercises and made a number of port visits in Western Europe. She was placed in reserve in 1950 and converted into a training ship in 1952, and served as flagship of the Home Fleet Training Squadron. The ship was considered for a major modernisation in 1951–1952, but this was rejected as too expensive and time-consuming. Implacable was decommissioned in 1954 and sold for scrap the following year.
The 1942 Design Light Fleet Carrier, commonly referred to as the British Light Fleet Carrier, was a light aircraft carrier design created by the Royal Navy during the Second World War, and used by eight naval forces between 1944 and 2001. They were designed and constructed by civilian shipyards to serve as an intermediate step between the expensive, full-size fleet aircraft carriers and the less expensive but limited-capability escort carriers.
HMS Perseus was a Colossus-class light fleet aircraft carrier built for the Royal Navy during World War II. The ship was initially named HMS Edgar, but she was renamed in 1944 when the Admiralty decided to convert her into an aircraft maintenance carrier. She was completed in 1945, after the end of World War II, and she made a trip to Australia late in the year. Upon her return to the UK in early 1946, Perseus was placed in reserve. The ship was recommissioned in 1950 to serve as the trials ship for the steam catapult then under development. Over 1,600 test launches were conducted before the catapult was removed in 1952 and she was converted for use as a ferry carrier to transport aircraft, troops and equipment overseas. She was reduced to reserve again in 1954 and sold for scrap in 1958.
USS St. Simon (CVE-51), an escort aircraft carrier originally classified as an auxiliary aircraft carrier, was laid down on 26 April 1943 at Tacoma, Washington, by the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation, under a Maritime Commission contract ; reclassified as an escort aircraft carrier, CVE-51, on 15 July 1943; launched on 9 September 1943; sponsored by Mrs. R. H. Lewis, the wife of Major General R. H. Lewis, Commanding General, Northwestern Sector, Fort Lewis, Washington; assigned to the Commercial Iron Works, Portland, Oregon, for the completion of construction; and delivered to the Royal Navy, under lend-lease, on 31 December 1943.
The British Pacific Fleet (BPF) was a Royal Navy formation that saw action against Japan during the Second World War. It was formed from aircraft carriers, other surface warships, submarines and supply vessels of the RN and British Commonwealth navies in November 1944.
HMS Furious was a modified Courageous-class battlecruiser built for the Royal Navy (RN) during the First World War. Designed to support the Baltic Project championed by the First Sea Lord, Lord Fisher, the ship was very lightly armoured and designed with a main battery of only two 18-inch guns. Furious was modified as an aircraft carrier while under construction. Her forward turret was removed and a flight deck was added in its place, such that aircraft had to manoeuvre around the superstructure to land. Later in the war, the ship had her rear turret removed and a second flight deck installed aft of the superstructure, but this was less than satisfactory due to air turbulence. Furious was briefly laid up after the war before she was reconstructed with a full-length flight deck in the early 1920s.
HMS Argus was a British aircraft carrier that served in the Royal Navy from 1918 to 1944. She was converted from an ocean liner that was under construction when the First World War began and became the first aircraft carrier with a full-length flight deck that allowed wheeled aircraft to take off and land. After commissioning, the ship was involved for several years in the development of the optimum design for other aircraft carriers. Argus also evaluated various types of arresting gear, general procedures needed to operate a number of aircraft in concert and fleet tactics. The ship was too top-heavy as originally built, and had to be modified to improve her stability in the mid-1920s. She spent one brief deployment on the China Station in the late 1920s before being placed in reserve for budgetary reasons.
Operation Inmate was an attack by the British Pacific Fleet against Japanese positions on Truk Atoll in the central Pacific Ocean during the Second World War. The attacks against the isolated islands on 14 and 15 June 1945 were conducted to provide combat experience for the aircraft carrier HMS Implacable and several of the fleet's cruisers and destroyers ahead of their involvement in more demanding operations off the Japanese home islands.
The Royal Navy built three aircraft maintenance carriers for its Fleet Air Arm before and during World War II. The Abyssinia Crisis of 1934–35 demonstrated to the Admiralty that it needed a depot ship to support the aircraft carriers in active service, just like submarine and destroyer tenders supported those types. Begun just before the start of World War II in 1939, HMS Unicorn was the first ship built in any navy that could "carry out the full range of aircraft maintenance and repair work in addition to the ability to operate aircraft from the flight deck". Unicorn proved the value of the concept and two similar support ships, Perseus and Pioneer were converted into aircraft maintenance ships by modifying light carriers while still under construction. Unlike Unicorn, neither Pioneer nor Perseus were able to land aircraft; they had to be craned aboard.
899 Naval Air Squadron was a squadron of the Fleet Air Arm of the United Kingdom.
879 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm that was active during the Second World War. It was formed in 1942, and from 1943 was equipped with Supermarine Seafire fighters, operating mainly in the Mediterranean Sea. It took part in the Allied landings at Salerno, Italy in 1943 and Operation Dragoon, the Allied invasion of southern France. It was disbanded in 1946.
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